1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to internal combustion engines and more particularly to an engine utilizing and opposed piston and cylinder set connected with the crank throw of the crankshaft in which the piston and cylinder set rotates in an orbit about an axis spaced from the rotational axis of the crankshaft to provide an engine in which the power stroke during expansion of the burning fuel and air mixture extends for a full 360 degree rotation of the crankshaft and crank throw while the cylinder set has rotated only 180 degrees.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various internal combustion engines have been designed and developed in a continuing effort to improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine in converting the expanding properties of a burning combustible mixture to a driving force on a piston, pistons or rotor in order to obtain useful mechanical energy. However, existing internal combustion engines are relatively inefficient in that a substantial portion of the thermal energy in the combustible mixture is wasted and environmental pollution agents are discharged as an exhaust into the atmosphere.
For example, the internal combustion engine design can waste up to 97% of its fuel at high revolutions per minutes (RPMs), their contained thermal energy. This energy released by fuel combustion is due to design fault creating improper oxygenation of the fuel, as well as friction and heat due to numerous unnecessary moving parts to burn the fuel. Gasoline, the most utilized of all fuels for internal combustion engines, requires 14 parts of oxygen to one part of fuel for proper combustion. In prior engines, the volume of fuel/air mixtures is restricted to the amount of air in the cylinder due to the air volume allowed by the vacuum created by the piston's reciprocation. To accelerate, more fuel is added to the restricted amount of air destroying proper fuel air mixture in which case the greatest percentage of fuel does not have sufficient oxygen to combust, is vaporized by the heat created by combustion and pushed out the exhaust valves by the reciprocation of the exhaust stroke and such reciprocation is controlled in two and four cycle engines by the crank throw or lever. Thus, a one-inch throw with a rotation of 180 degrees causes a two inch reciprocation of the piston in relation to the cylinder head. The volume of that cylinder is restricted to the diameter of the cylinder and the length of the piston stroke. The volume of the air being drawn in is created by the vacuum of the piston stroke on the intake. As fuel is added to accelerate, the required 14 parts of air to one part of fuel in relation to gasoline provides an incorrect fuel to air mixture that creates more inefficiency as more acceleration is required. Since the cylinder volume is constant, each addition of fuel per cubic centimeter deducts from the air volume to properly burn, and cuts the efficiency of the heat expansion of the fuel. Further, the more fuel utilized per cubic inch the greater the waste through the exhaust system. Such fuel waste in turn causes the need for anti-pollution devices, thus creating back pressure in the exhaust system restricting proper scavenging of exhaust gases and restricting proper fuel/air volume.
Attempts to increase the volume of oxygen in the cylinder by the use of turbos, blowers, and oxygenated fuels have been of such small improvement as to be impractical in low-level atmospheric pressures. Usually, the use of alcohol additives because of their water content, and the use of water injection in aircraft and high-performance engines is restricted. In the present design of the two and four cycle engine, alcohol or water addition is restricted to ten percent or less, and water injection is restricted to ten to thirty seconds in the valve systems of the present four cycle internal combustion engines.
The use of sodium valves in high-performance engines burn, melt, or explode from the proper oxygenation requirement for the fuel efficiency of the heat created by the fuel combustion. The diesel engine at this time is probably the most efficient as it is designed to operate at high temperatures with more air displacement in the cylinder and slower burning fuels (kerosene-diesel) causing a pressure against the piston for a longer period of time. The additive of lead to gasoline to retard the burning and cause pressure against the piston of the four cycle engine for a greater period has been outlawed due to the lead pollutants which have caused gasoline to be even more dangerous. The system of ports rather than the complex valve system of the four cycle engine utilizes a more efficient fuel energy due to the placement in relation to the piston position at the end of its power stroke.